PERITO MORENO GLACIER, Santa Cruz, Argentina (S 50°27’ W 73°10’) Card 170x120mm with recycled envelope and biodegradable cello. Detailed caption on the reverse of the card. Card is blank for your own message.
PERITO MORENO GLACIER, Santa Cruz, Argentina (S 50°27’ W 73°10’)
Created in 1937, Los Glaciares National Park is located in southern Patagonia, near the border of Chile. This protected zone, declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1981, contains 13 glaciers that originated from the continental glacial covering of Patagonia, the largest in the world after Antarctica and Greenland. With a frontal width of 2.5 miles (4 km) and a height of 147 feet (60 m), Perito Moreno extends for 32 miles (52 km) and moves along one of the arms of Lake Argentino, dragging rock debris torn from the banks in its wake, which erodes and shapes the landscape. Every three or four years, at the confluence of the two arms of the lake, the glacier interrupts the water’s flow. The growing pressure of the water against the ice barrier ends up breaking it, producing an explosion that can be heard from several miles away. Glaciers and ice caps make up 9% of the earth’s land surface. Global warming could melt the ice, raising the level of the oceans by 3-35 inches (9-88 cm) before the end of the century and drowning the fertile shore areas.
© Yann Arthus-Bertrand/Altitude - www.yannarthusbertrand.org - www.goodplanet.org
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